A Celebration of CommunityConcordia Students Partner with Pointe-Saint-Charles to present their

Second Creative and Research Showcase

Montreal, December 5th, 2015—For the second year in a row, students from Concordia University have partnered with community organizations in Pointe-Saint-Charles to present an afternoon of neighbourhood-based research and creation. Our December 5th event is open to the public and features exhibitions, research projects, and short performances. The exhibition will take place at Salon Laurette (1950 rue Centre) beginning at 1:30pm, followed by performances at Share the Warmth (625 Fortune) from 3:00-5:00pm. Events are free of charge and all are welcome!

“We are extremely pleased and grateful to return to Pointe-Saint-Charles for the second year,“ says Dr Cynthia Hammond, project leader. “As we continue our partnerships with these vital organizations and their dedicated staff and volunteers, we're developing real connections with the neighbourhood and the various communities here.” Under the banner of The Right to the City, four classes are discovering how learning with the city, and across disciplines, can enrich education while giving back to the community at large. Students in Art History, Oral History, and Theatre returned for the second year, this time joined by students in Art Education, to study in and with “the Point”, a traditionally working-class neighbourhood with a long history of community mobilization. Students have partnered with local organizations including the Atwater Library, the Pointe-St-Charles YMCA, St-Columba House, and Bibliothèque St-Charles, among others. The project host is Share the Warmth/Partageons l’espoir, a citizen-led resource founded on the principles of social economy, education as a right, food justice, and community self-determination.

In addition to working outside the traditional classroom and travelling weekly to the neighbourhood, students have shared research methods across disciplines, and developed new hands-on approaches to working directly with local organizations in response to real issues facing Montrealers. The tethered classes offer an educational opportunity that is completely unique at Concordia; in learning from one another and with the community, students develop their individual thinking processes alongside their collaboration skills and sense of how to be engaged citizens. “It's inspiring to watch our students discover the power of making visible the history of community knowledge and activism,” says Hammond. “I’m proud of how these students have been ambassadors for Concordia. Their research and creative work breaks down the boundary between university and society.”

The Right to the City project was made possible through a Curriculum Innovation grant from Concordia University. Dr Hammond, Chair of the Department of Art History, has worked closely with co-instructors, Dr Steven High, Canada Research Chair in Oral History, Dr Edward Little, Chair of Theatre and founder of The Neighbourhood Theatre project, and Dr Kathleen Vaughan, Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in Art Education.

The participants would like to thank Concordia University, the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, Share the Warmth, the Atwater Library Digital Literacy Program, and Salon Laurette for their support of this pedagogical initiative.

For more information please visit: http://righttothecity.atwaterlibrary.ca

For interview request and media inquiries, please contact: Dane Stewart | 514.655.4400 | danebstewart@gmail.com